>> Sunday, October 15, 2017

TUBA, Benguet
– Adhering to its mandate of helping improve the industry it belongs in
through R&D, or research and development, as well as seminars and
workshops, Philex Mining Corp. has recently facilitated the completion of
training and/or retraining by 23 geologic aides through a company-organized,
-funded, and -run program, which espouses continuous learning that leads to
“better life situations” for the participants and graduates.

“I support
and agree to continue this program provided there are interested trainees,”
said the company’s CEO and president, Eulalio Austin, Jr., in a speech during
formal ceremonies to honor the first graduates of the Geologic Aide Training
Academy (GATA), held Wednesday, Sept. 20, at the Social Hall of Saint Louis
High School – Philex, in Itogon’s Brgy. Ampucao. “We must not forget that
education is the greatest inheritance we can have.”

Roy Ronald
Luis, manager at Padcal’s Exploration Group, said the program had focused on
improving the skills set of the company’s geologic aides and other participants
and, consequently, on developing the information dissemination of exploration
activities to the communities concerned.

“Geologists
of ongoing exploration activities on the different sites of Philex Mining’s
MPSA-156 needed more skilled geologic aides to assist them in the conduct of
field activities,” he stressed. “And the company’s current geologic aides also
required refresher and additional training covering a wide range of subjects to
satisfy the different needs of the ongoing exploration projects.”

MPSA, or
Mineral Production Sharing Agreement, 156 as well as the company’s MPSA 276
cover more than 5,010 hectares (has.) of land in Tuba and Itogon, but Philex
Mining utilizes a measly 580-ha. area of these for its mining operations—410
has. for mining facilities and 170 has. for residential and institutional use.

Eleven of
the 23 graduates either had worked or have been working at the Geology and
Exploration Division, of Philex Mining’s Padcal operations, in this province,
while the rest hailed from the different villages of the company’s host
municipalities of Tuba and Itogon.

“I
congratulate the organizers of this academy, as well as the graduates for
having participated in this training program,” Redempta Baluda, VP for
Exploration at Philex Mining, said. “Dear graduates, do not stop learning;
continuous learning will lead you to better life situations. Learning fulfills
your dreams to having a successful life.”

Austin
said, “Congratulations to those responsible in organizing and implementing this
program, considering our continuing project to extend the mine life of Padcal
[beyond 2022] because the chances of opening new sites in other areas are
difficult. Thus, we need to continue exploring adjacent communities where
people are already familiar with what a mine looks like.”

Luis, who
was one of the brains behind GATA, said the program consisted of about 30
sessions that were completed in four months, with materials/booklets and snacks
provided free of charge. A team of Philex Mining geologists, on the other hand,
had administered the lectures and guided the field works—done after office
hours and during weekends—also pro bono.

He
also said that besides being well-equipped to work as geologic aides, the
graduates—who had learned, among other subjects, structural and geologic
mapping, sampling procedures, and drilling—could now serve as vehicles for the
dissemination of information on Philex Mining’s ongoing exploration projects in
their respective villages.

“We
congratulate the graduates of this first batch of geologic-aide trainees
composed of the dependents of company employees as well as those from the host
towns of Tuba and Itogon,” said Aurora Dolipas, manager for Community Relations
(ComRel) at Philex Mining’s gold-and-copper operations in Padcal, whose
department provided the P209,600-budget for GATA through the Development of
Mining Technology and Geosciences (DMTG). “ComRel is more than willing to be a
partner in any exploration activities.”

DMTG, which
provides for the pursuit and implementation of programs to develop the mining
industry, is one of the company’s major programs on CSR, or corporate social
responsibility. And as mandated by the mining-industry regulator, Mines and
Geosciences Bureau (MGB), a government body under the Department of Environment
and Natural Resources (DENR), DMTG, the Social Development and Management
Program (SDMP), and the Information, Education and Communications (IEC)
campaign get an annual budget of 1.5 percent of a miner’s total operating costs
in the previous year.

Dolipas
earlier said P11 million had been set aside by Philex Mining for the 2017 DMTG;
P16.6 million for IEC, which is tasked to disseminate information on the
benefits derived by society from the mining industry; and P82.9 million for the
SDMP, through which the company has implemented its community projects on health,
education, livelihood, and public infrastructure.

Ulysses
Wais, a community officer at ComRel who used to work as a geologic aide at the
Geology and Exploration, took a refresher at GATA and said he looks forward to
sharing the knowledge and experience he has acquired to his peers and neighbors
in Tuba’s Brgy. Camp 3. “My experience as a dragger, hauler, core-checker,
geologic logger, and, now, a community organizer will surely help me continue
working in Philex Mining and with my community,” he stressed.

That is the
challenge—how to involve the host and neighboring villages in community
organizing, negotiations, and social-projects implementation—according to
Austin. “I congratulate you, and be the models for the next batch of trainees,”
he added, addressing GATA’s newly minted geologic aides, who are all at least
high-school graduates.